Journey
by CountNibosshi
Summary: Anzu, Tama and Aki's worlds are torn apart as on one fateful day, the monstrous creations of the Heavenly God, the Vertex, descend on humanity. Currently a WIP. I hope you enjoy my interpretation of this little, formerly unmentioned part of the NoWaYu continuity.
1. Chapter 1

The small candle flickered on the table between them, weakly bathing their surroundings in a small glow and casting tall and malicious shadows from the two individuals who sat on either side of the table.

Anzu breathed out nervously, the thin walls surrounding them was chilling the temperature of the room, each time she exhaled small clouds would form in the air in front of her. Other than the creaking sounds coming from the small stool she was sat on and the rustling of the man sat opposite her, she could make very little of her surroundings, obscured as they were in the darkness, the single weak candle providing the only light in the room. She tried to keep her breathing steady, but in truth the man on the opposite side of the table scared her. He sat completely still, a mask obscuring his features, yet more unnerving than anything else was his unnatural stillness. He was sat in silence opposite Anzu, the only telling signs of his character being the inscribed mask and the strong smell of incense that hung around his person. The candlelight played across the sloped shape of the mask, obscuring much of it in shadow, the tree engraving being the most immediate and obvious sight that jumped out at her.

They sat in silence opposite each other, Anzu desperately trying to focus her attention on something. Anything else to keep her mind away from thoughts of just how bitterly cold it was with. The thin walls offered no protection against the cold of the night. She looked at the priest's robes with jealousy, they were thick and hung off his person, particularly around his arms, where they almost reached the floor. All she could hear was a brief shuffle every time the priest moved, these sounds would last only a second. Otherwise the priest would hold his pose at all times, completely mechanical as he sat still without a single outward sign of emotion.

Her own clothes were completely unsuitable for the conditions, her dress was torn and dirty, worn down by the conditions it had been through. The fairy tales never quite mentioned how the princess would be bitterly cold as she sat in the castle. She couldn't help but think about Rapunzel freezing in her stone tower, a quick respite from the pit of worry she had in her stomach. Despite the gravity of her situation, she smiled.

The brief respite of a positive thought soon passed, and she returned to her nervous state, who was this man? What did he want? Those questions were only surfacing now that she made a concentrated effort to try and think about her situation. Prior to this, she had just felt a great pit of unease in her stomach, clouding the majority of her conscious thoughts, paired with the constant longing to escape the frigid conditions she was sat in.

She soon become aware of a new sound that took her mind off the cold, a second set of swishing sounds, this one much more active and agitated, coming towards the room at a rapid pace.

Anzu turned her head to the sound as it got closer, she was almost glad for the arrival of the second individual, the change in circumstance offering a welcome distraction for her exhausted mind. Yet her body was also gripped by a further sinking feeling, had they come all this way just to be interned here?

The second figure appeared out of the shadows with a rustle of robes. Anzu shrunk further in her chair at their unannounced entrance, the only tell-tale signs of their approach had been the soft rustling she had identified earlier. The second figure was clad in the same long robes as their counterpart, but from their narrower physique Anzu thought maybe this second arrival was a woman, it was difficult to tell, seemingly inhuman as they were.

In her arms she was holding a large archaic type-writer, it was scuffed and marked, the metal old and stained, something dug out of storage after a long time. She placed it before her counterpart, and to Anzu's surprise he began to move out of his chair, giving it up to his companion.

As he drew himself up to his full height, Anzu couldn't help but feel like it was much worse than when he'd been sat down, the full imposing size of the unemotional, unflinching figure was now stood before her, looking down through the mask.

"Iyojima-san?" he asked, his voice as uncompromising as his figure.

Anzu nodded, rendered completely speechless by the voice coming from behind the mask. It was flat yet demanding, a voice that she felt completely unable to not answer with a small gesture.

"You've come a long way to us, do you know who we are?"

Anzu shook her head. She kept her eyes low, gazing at the floor, unable to look up into the face of the mask, to look back at the tree marking.

"We are interested in your journey here, tell us what happened what in the last week."

'Tell us', it wasn't a question, it was a demand. Anzu shivered, both from the cold and the sentence. She was silent for but a few seconds, and yet the man before her continued.

"We are prepared to wait until you are ready to speak."

Although the words were friendly, spoken in his flat tone of voice they simply came across as uncaring, as if Anzu was a mere object of curiosity rather than a guest. Anzu found herself still unable to speak, to tell them about the story. She didn't want to remember any of it herself, what they'd been through to reach this point.

"We're speaking to your friends about this as well," he further added, neither impatient nor considerate about Anzu's lack of a reply.

Anzu perked up a little at the mention of the friends who'd come with her. She struggled to find her voice at first, but she had to make sure they were okay. The mention of them had inspired a little courage inside her, the desire to ask how they were, yet at the same time she felt afraid to demand something of this figure before her, unknown as his motives were.

"W-where are they?" she asked, her own voice sounding small in the tiny room, giving away just how afraid she was

"They are telling us about the events they saw."

The response didn't help to calm Anzu's turmoil of emotions. Coming from the man before her she had no idea whether to believe him. Could she trust him to tell her the truth? There was nothing friendly about either of the figures before her. She shrunk back into her seat, the small courage that had appeared earlier had vanished, she was exhausted, cold and afraid. She just wanted someone warm to come and tell her it was okay, that she didn't have to worry.

She blinked, feeling tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Still the figures before her didn't move, didn't react to her feelings at all. They simply continued to watch, passive. They wanted to know about the past week. She was unsure if she'd be able to tell them in her current state. Retreating into herself, all she wished for warmth and kindness she remembered just where she had been at the start of the events, before everything had been torn apart and she'd been forced into the journey that had culminated with her arriving here, sat before these masked figures.

 _July 30_ _th_ _, 2015_

 _It was a summer afternoon, and Anzu was finishing off the last illustration for her book review, adding the final touch of colour. She hummed to herself as she idly stroked with the pencil, immensely proud of what she'd created. She had never quite thought she'd put so much effort into summer homework, she was a diligent student, always making sure everything she did was neat and presentable, and done in good time. But when given the task of doing a book review she'd felt a burning desire to go above and beyond her usual standard, and to make it the best she possibly could._

 _Because more than anything else in the world, Anzu loved literature, her room was a striking testament to that. Rows of shelves stood lined against the wall, each filled with row upon row of books, neatly arranged by author. Following along the row of shelves one could see the irregular heights of books stacked next to each other, their myriad of spine artwork creating an exhibition of mysterious as far off lands and incredible people, as well as the impressive matching spines of the longer series which particularly stood out to the eye. Above Anzu's bed were more wall mounted shelves, further groaning under the weight of additional titles from all over the world, some of which were untranslated and completely unreadable to Anzu, yet they stood there amongst the others as she'd been unable to resist the urge to buy them and save them from languishing in the corner of a store forever._

 _It was a beautiful afternoon, sunlight streamed through her windows, gently lighting her room, and warming Anzu comfortably. She'd sat and written out the entire review in one session of several hours, making sure to prioritise her presentation and attention to detail in all aspects. She'd drawn a great number of cute, stylised illustrations to accompany this review and had even considered doing a second review in the excitement of doing the first. the entire time she had spent writing had been accompanied by a deep-seated excitement, turning the hours into a blur and seeing her completely lose track of the time whilst writing it. She also felt a great sense of shame and disappointment at she could only reviewed one book, there was a great variety to be found in books. Forcing her to choose a single title to write about out of her vast library had been the hardest part. It had kept her occupied for a long time just which title she wanted to write about._

 _In the end she was confident in her choice. She placed the pencil down, her illustration finished. Looking at the paper before her, she smiled with pride._

Even now, sat in this small room, Anzu could remember the glowing pride she'd felt about the review, as well as the room of her home. It was a very girly room, made of pinks and creams, fluffy rugs and delicate touches. Tama would hate it.

"Iyojima-san."

Although there was no change to his tone, his words told Anzu he was growing slightly impatient at her lack of a response. Feeling a little calmer now, the memories of happier times lifting her spirits a little, she dared to ask

"C-can I see my friends now?" Despite her inner sense of calm, she still stuttered slightly when gathering the words.

"You will see them after you have told us what you know."

"We intend no harm towards you," he added afterwards, a temporary lapse of compassion in his completely neutral statements.

Calmer now, Anzu thought more rationally about the time she had spent sat with the robed man, as well as when they'd been first brought into the castle. The figures then had kept their distance, as if afraid, or even reverent.

The robed figures words hadn't been gentle or compassionate, they'd been the same flat tone as they always had been, and yet they felt to Anzu like a slight concession, Anzu grabbed onto them, desperate to believe they were on her side. Maybe she could trust them? As soon as this thought crossed her mind, a floodgate of desires opened; she wanted to believe that these figures wanted to help her, she wanted to rid herself of the negative and doubting thoughts she'd had about them, she wanted to tell someone, anyone, about what she'd been through.

She decided she'd tell them what she had been through, perhaps they might know something about the terrible monsters and sights she had seen.

"We've come from Ehime," she said to no one in particular, it was easier to speak if she pretended to be talking to the air, it put her slightly more at ease, calmed her nerves a little. There was the clacking sound of typewriter keys as the second robed figure, who had been sat unyielding across the table from Anzu until this time, recorded her statement word for word.

"Continue," the man directed "What did you see in Ehime that made you leave?"

"What drove you to flee here to Marugame? Do you remember what it was you saw that day?"

She nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

The gentle sunshine of the early afternoon later gave way to an uncomfortably hot evening which had left Anzu with no desire to do much. It was simply too hot and stuffy in her room to even try and be productive. She sat in her room for several lazy hours, her mother constantly checking on her, fussing and worrying over Anzu's wellbeing, did she need drinks, ice, a fan? Her mother was not subtle at showing her affection, even when Anzu politely declined, she'd still come in with drinks on trays, just to make sure. She was always worrying about Anzu's whereabouts and wellbeing whenever she was out of her sight, it could get overbearing at times, but Anzu never complained, her mother only wanted what was best for her.

As she sat idly in the summer heat, Anzu thought about what she might do with the rest of her holidays, the book shelves before her were an option, maybe she could change the display again? She'd spend a lot of time so far in the holidays sitting around during the hot days, thinking about her surroundings as she sat idly, everything was mostly quiet, Anzu only ever speaking with her parents, she liked it this way, although occasionally she'd hear a group of friends pass by her window, or the sounds of work colleagues meeting each other on the street, and Anzu's thoughts would turn to more sorrowful emotions . She'd often think about the friends she might have had if she'd had a normal life, what would that girl be doing right now, not being confined inside her room. Her loneliness could strike her hard and often, even whilst reading a favourite book she might be torn out of her immersion by the heavy feeling of loneliness, and then she would close the book and gently cry. It couldn't be helped, Anzu had been the one behind distancing herself from her class mates. She had always felt alienated, not by any active effort against her, but simply by the circumstances, and she'd isolated herself away as a result. She'd had friends in her own year before, but her movement to the year below had left them out of touch, and eventually, they too had faded away.

She reasoned with herself, trying to gently nurse her wounded feelings and convince herself there wasn't much chance to make friends in her free time, she spent most of her time indoors, in her room, reading. Nor was there much chance at school, where she would sit apart from her class mates, even then reading a book during lunchtimes and other break times. No one bothered her, there wasn't anyone like that, but she still felt a slight barrier between them all, so she would keep herself preoccupied with her own entertainment, living out a lonely school life. Luckily, the book review had kept her occupied today, and such thoughts hadn't crept into her mind that day.

She looked up at the clock, 9pm already. Almost time for bed. She made a mental note to look at the shelf layout, maybe she'd make it tomorrow's activity to change it around. It would be a nice freshening of the room. The interesting possibility planted in her head, she slipped on her pyjamas and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth before bed.

It felt like only a few hours later that Anzu was rudely awakened. Ripped from sleep, her disorientation was multiplied by the screeching of the warning sirens shouting over each other from all around. The shrill sound instantly instilled a sense of panic, and she blindly fumbled around the desk beside her bed for the switch at the base of her lamp. Her fingers closed over it, and her surroundings were gently lit, the lamp facing way from her and giving some time for her eyes to acclimatise. Still groggy, she was alert enough to feel the feeling of denial in her stomach, this couldn't be happening, surely the sirens weren't what she thought they were. She had of course been privy to the rumours in her class about the events happening all the world. They had captured the interest of everyone, not just the schoolchildren. natural disasters striking frequently and in great power all across the globe in freak weather patterns, but no one who'd ever told these stories had truly expected to see it affect their own livelihood, Anzu shook her head with denial, again she refused to believe that this could possibly be happening,she didn't want to acknowledge the possability that something was coming to destroy her home, her precious book collection and the warmth she knew everyday.

She was caught off-guard when her mother burst into the room and turned on the room lights without a warning, blinding Anzu. She raised her arm to cover her eyes, once again disorientated. Squeezing her eyes shut, her only thoughts were invaded by the wail of the sirens, the unyielding din filling Anzu with fear. When her sight finally began to recover, she looked around the room in short, rapid movements, still squinting a little. Her eyes fixed on a blurry shape who must have been her mother, frantically pulling several piles of clothes out of Anzu's drawers, Anzu had never quite seen her mother in such a state of panic, she was always worrying and fussing over Anzu's hair or dress, but never anything as serious as the urgency with which she moved now.

"Mother?" Anzu asked slowly, her thoughts still jumbled.

"what's going on?" It was an empty question, she knew exactly what the sirens meant, she simply refused to accept it.

Her mother stopped abruptly in the middle of all that she was doing to rush to Anzu's side and reassure her.

"There's nothing to worry about."

"How are you feeling, are you okay?" she asked, her brow creased in worry.

Anzu nodded, although afraid, seeing her mother panicking filled her with the desire to act calm to reassure her.

Anzu's mother was the spitting image of her daughter, though she'd lost some of the lustre of her blonde hair in later years and had sacrificed the long flowing hair of her youth for a much more practical ponytail. She looked incredibly weary, bags under her eyes and her hair hastily tied up.

"I'm okay" Anzu smiled reassuringly.

Her mother put one of Anzu's regular dresses on the top of the drawers, it was a plain green one, with a few small buttons sewn around the neck, she then added mittens, a scarf, a thick coat, and hat for good measure. The pile looked incredibly uncomfortable to Anzu, stirring thoughts about how hot it had been earlier, it was still uncomfortably stuffy now, and yet her mother had got these warm clothes out for her to wear.

"It's still hot outside." Anzu gently brought up, remembering how hot it had been the previous afternoon.

"It's going to get colder," her mother explained "I don't want you being uncomfortable if we have to stay at the shelter for a long time." despite her earlier frantic activity, she was clearly trying very hard to force herself to talk in a calm manner towards Anzu, who was pained to see her mother in such a state.

So, it really was the case that a tsunami was coming, no false alarms or drills. Widespread destruction was coming, and all Anzu's material possessions, the books she loved more than anything else, would be destroyed, gone forever. Anzu's stomach tightened further.

"Anzu, put these on, your father is waiting for us downstairs."

Her mother turned to leave, but stopped at the frame of the door.

"Will you need any help?"

"I can dress myself, mother." Anzu answered politely, she felt awkward being asked the question, given the sudden state of upheaval however, she could understand if her mother might be worrying heavily, even to the point of ridiculous.

Her mother gave a small nod, her head disappearing from behind the door.

Anzu rubbed the sleep from her eyes, still struggling to recover from the sudden brightness of her surroundings. It was hard to think over the feeling of deep seated terror, a clawing feeling in her stomach that she wanted to run away from. She just wanted to curl up and hide under her sheets. Surely, she'd wake up in the morning to everything being alright, the events had just been a bad dream. Yet she forced herself to get up and go to the drawers, guiding herself with cautious touches of her surroundings. The heat she felt prickling her skin left her averse to wearing the coat, so she slung it over her arm to carry with her.

She began to close the door, yet paused half way to think on what she was leaving behind, despite her situation, she couldn't help taking another look back into the room, noticing the slight bend of a book cover, the small corner of dust that she'd neglected to clean last time she'd sorted...

She slammed the door shut.

She walked downstairs, where her parents were waiting anxiously, her father's face was strained, but he smiled wearily at Anzu as she came down the stairs. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, tired.

"Shall we go then?" he asked quietly, Anzu barely catching it.

Stepping outside, Anzu could see the great bustle of activity as many people making their way up to the shelter in a great migration, passing under the street lamps in a great procession of noise. She looked at her mother, her eyes unintentionally wide, she couldn't help it, she was completely terrified, the huge crowd of people terrified her.

She smiled at her, giving Anzu a small sense of reassurance to help her combat the fear.

"Will we be okay?" she dared to ask in a small voice, her resolve to show calm had been broken, the size of the crowd and the reality of the incoming waves intimidating her.

"We'll all be fine, Anzu." her father reassured her, equally quiet, Anzu was surprised to hear him speaking to her.

"Let's walk together so you can stay close to us." her mother added, her voice full of worry, she held out her hand.

Anzu held the outstretched hand as tightly as she could, maybe others who saw her might think she was being childish, but at that moment she was grateful for the warmth of her mother's hand, a reminder that there was a reassuring adult presence nearby to help her get through the upheaval that had come to them so suddenly.

"It's quite the distance, isn't it?" Her father mused, breaking the silence that was between them, Anzu had been focused on keeping as quiet as possible so not to impose anything, whilst the whole time her father kept making idle chatter, talking to her about how tough it was walking this far, how many people there were, why the evacuation point was so far, a constant stream of small talk, it was awkward to hear the words, her father had gradually drifted away from her, they never knew what to say to each other, both avid readers, it should have been a simple gap to bridge, but Anzu's romance novels were no doubt unknown territory to him, likewise, his books of science and history held no interest to Anzu, sometimes she would read about a history situation in one of her novels, and they would be able to share a few short exchanges about it, but otherwise they had kept to themselves. To hear him trying to overcome the barrier between them calmed Anzu's heart a little, although he was talking to no one in particular, the constant stream of words took her back to a happier time, back when she'd first been learning to read.

 _Her father's study, a wild and uncharted region of old books and untraceable paperwork, a great series of mysterious documents that only her father really seemed to understand where everything was. The whole room smelled of printer ink. Dust idly floated in the room, lightly tickling the nose. Anzu remembered the evenings spent sat on her father's lap, going through books together._

" _Can you read this sentence for me Anzu?" her father would challenge her, and Anzu would fiercely rise to the challenge_

" _The…cat…" she would struggle, tracing the words with her finger_

" _very good, the cat, do you know this word?"_

" _e-expla-i-ned."_

" _almost, it's ai, not i, expl-ai-ned, let's try again."_

" _The cat explained, can you say that for me?"_

" _The cat expl..ai..ned."_

" _Good girl."_

" _Let's move onto the next sentence, shall we?"_

 _He glanced up at the clock on the wall_

" _Ah, looks like we missed your bedtime again, let's finish today by reading this page."_

Remembering the scene gave Anzu a sense of warmth in her chest, they were happy days, helping to further calm her nerves.

"You look happy Anzu, did you remember something good?" her father asked offhandedly, distracted by the rising voices that were spreading through the crowd and gaining traction as the alarm came towards them, people turning their heads to the sky.

"Look up!" an indistinct voice in the crowd yelled.

Shocked murmurs arose from those around them as more people turned their faces to look up into the sky. The widespread confusion and noise such a massive group of people creative instilled fear back into Anzu's heart, which had begun to calm down, once more terrified, she dared to look up.

There, falling from the sky, came a myriad of white blobs, growing larger as they approached the earth, quietening, the crowd turned from shock of the unknown to a quiet and passive observation, standing and watching as the objects fell from the sky. As they grew larger, one of them turned towards the crowd during free fall. The formerly featureless object revealed a mouth as it opened, exposing rows of sharp teeth.

Some faces amongst the crowd continued to look on at the phenomenon with trepidation and curiosity, several members began taking pictures on their phones, looking skyward with a sense of wonder. The white objects were drawing closer now, more of them following from the sky in a rapid descent.

Now others in the crowd began moving away from the scene, faster now, down the route they had originally being taking to the shelter, Anzu's father grabbed her free hand and the three of them began to move away from the falling objects, moving at a brisk walk, Anzu could tell he was trying to keep his composition in front of his daughter, the three of them walking under the street lights together, calm yet quickly. The objects they had seen falling from the sky in great numbers, the speed of their walk, and the frantic activity of Anzu's fully alert brain were the only obstacles that prevented this from being a scenic night time stroll.

They had only reached the end of the street when the silence of the crowd behind them was broken by an outbreak of screaming and cries of terror, the sounds of the air buffering off a large creature soaring above the heads of the crowd as one of the white objects passed overhead, level with the roofs of the surrounding houses, as the crowd turned to look at it, shock and horror grasped them, the white teeth were stained red with the blood of prey, tendrils of gore and sinew hung from the creatures jaws, which constantly opened and closed in a mechanical matter as it flew over their heads

Any semblance of order finally broke as people snapped out of the paralysis of fear that had struck them upon seeing the white creature, they began scrambling to escape somewhere, as far away as possible from the street they were stood on. Anzu's parents were no exception, taking off running with their daughter from the creatures that were still descending from the sky. They ran at full pace down the road, Anzu having difficulties keeping up, the slip-on shoes she was wearing weren't designed for running, nor was her constitution strong enough for even these short distances. She soon stopped abruptly, unable to take it any longer, her breathing was heavy and ragged, straining to inhale enough to quickly recover and get away.

Her parents had no choice to slow down and let her recover. The people that had been behind them observing the monsters were now catching up, rapidly sweeping by as they rushed to their destination, wherever they imagined was safe, they bodied their way past Anzu and her family, all courtesies lost as they strove to escape, pushing and shoving each other in their mad scramble. Anzu, caught up in the tide as they passed by, felt her grasp weaken on her parent's hands as they struggled to stay together amidst the crowd.

She felt herself lose control of her direction, she was suddenly thrown backwards and unable to stop herself from falling. She had lost her grasp on her parents' hands, finally landing uncomfortably on the asphalt on her backside, those passing by gave her only the barest acknowledgement, and Anzu made unsteady progress trying to extricate herself from the people passing by, shakily trying to stand up before being pushed back down again as someone passed in their haste to get away. Someone stepped on her hand, causing pain to shoot through her arm, as she tried to rise yet another time, she felt a hand grab her by the back of her neck and roughly pick her up, setting her back on shaky feet.

Anzu tried to look for the individual that had grabbed her, but couldn't see anyone, nor were her parents anywhere to be found.

Anzu was alone.

She blindly stumbled along with the crowd, unable to control the direction they were heading, and barely able to keep herself from being knocked over by the others, she made frequent, frantic looks, each time feeling closer to despair, she felt the tears begin to form, hot on her cheeks as she realised that no matter how hard she was looked she couldn't seem to find them.

 _Where was her mother?_

 _Where was her father?_

Her body shook. Cold and lonely. She wanted her parents, but the crowd gave her no time for respite, she continued to be dragged along in their wake.

Anzu soon lost track of time amongst the escaping crowd. She had no idea when she'd been able to extricate herself from the crowd, but when it cleared Anzu found herself at the foot of some steps. The crowd had completely disappeared now, and she stood alone, unsure of where she was and how she had ended up here, had she left the crowd and wandered on her own? Her sleep deprived brain was struggling to recall the journey, how far had they gone?

 _Her parents._

She had to find them, she turned back towards the town, from the view below her she could tell it was the outskirts, where the last few houses stood before the trees started, climbing the steep mountains that began here. The town below was a scene of devastation, crumpled buildings brusquely smashed apart by the white creatures below, which drifted lazily through the sky above in great swarms, a cluster occasionally descending below, as if diving for prey.

The destruction appalled Anzu, she looked on with shock at the ruins below, it left her paralysed, unable to act, she couldn't help but imagine the worst, her fevered mind thinking up the worst-case scenario, her parents gone, torn apart by the creatures below, she collapsed to her knees in the street, exhausted as the events of the day caught up with her, she curled into a ball, pressing her face into her knees and sobbing quietly, far too tired to do anything else.

She stayed there, sobbing, until she felt something else stirring in her. Despite the despair and defeat that haunted her, she began to feel a new, small sense of resolve within. It was indescribable as to its origin, but her tears eventually stopped, and she shakily got to her feet, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. There was a nagging feeling inside her, a mysterious pull that was drawing her attention to whatever was at the top of the stairs behind her , although she didn't know what was drawing her to her destination, the courage that had suddenly imbued her moved Anzu's legs determinately, with great concentration, she moved with shaky steps, one after the other, right foot, left foot, up the stairs towards the copse of trees at the top. Her path was dimly lit by thin lanterns hanging from the trees that lined the staircase.

Reaching the top, she looked at her surroundings, in the centre of the gathering of trees was a small shrine, removed from the rest of the town, too small to ever be visited for festivals or New Years, it would have been largely ignored by the rest of society, but right now, with the white monsters lurking outside, it seemed like one of the safest places. Anzu shivered, her mother had been right, it had grown colder, and yet Anzu had lost the coat that had been on her arm amongst the turmoil of the crowd. Despite everything that she had seen outside, she could feel a sense of peace here, of surroundings yet untouched by the devastation.

Anzu didn't stop, she was drawn towards the small shrine itself. There, enshrined within, lay an old wooden repeating crossbow, aged by the years. Gently placing her hand on it, she felt the courage within her grow, the tiny sense of resolve she had felt before was larger now, no doubt her parents were out there waiting for her. With some trepidation, wary of the potential weight, she picked up the crossbow, it was surprisingly light, and Anzu had no difficulty holding it, despite her slim figure. She cradled the crossbow, feeling a little tougher now that she held it.

There was a quiet rustle of leaves, shortly followed by the crashing of branches as several large objects appeared. Bursting into the clearing came three of the predators, large as cars. Anzu stepped back, pressing herself against the shrine to attempt to shrink herself down into as small a shape as she could manage. Whatever small courage she may have discovered when she picked up the crossbow, whatever resolve she had, vanished before being the white creatures, they were no longer as unblemished as they had been when they had fallen from the sky, covered now in rubble and plaster, blood and gore. Anzu could not bear it, these creatures before her had torn through everything in their path, focused only on destruction. It was impossible, there was no way she could fight these monsters, armed with just a single crossbow.

Once more, she felt the embrace of despair and defeat creeping in. As the monsters drew closer, Anzu tried to press herself further against the shrine.

"Somebody help me… please..." She whispered in her head. She didn't want to die.

"Over here huhhh!?" came a yell, much to Anzu's surprise, there was someone else here, what were they doing? Did they want to die as well?

"Run away!" Anzu thought, frustrated with the newcomer, yet too scared to raise her voice.

The white creature which had been immediately in front of her crumpled under the impact of a thrown object, which struck the side of the creature with great force, it let out a bizarre cry as it faded away into nothingness, Anzu watched with wide eyes, fascinated.

Running over, the person who had just arrived retrieved the object off the ground, Anzu could see now it was a shield, the new girl was smaller than Anzu. She was wearing outdoor clothes, like a hiker, her brown hair was tied up in two ponytails, as she stood in front of Anzu, staring down the remaining monsters, she gave off an aura of immense courage.

Someone had come to rescue her, like a prince from a fairy tale.


	3. Chapter 3

The girl who had appeared from nowhere sprang into action in front of Anzu's eyes, throwing the shield with a force that was unexpected from her tiny frame, it flew out, striking one of the monster's square in the jaw, shattering several of the large teeth and continuing to make its way through the torso of the creature. There was a thud, followed by the sounds of vibration as the shield embedded itself into one of the trees in the clearing, having passed completely through the monster.

Anzu looked on with shock as the girl began to immediately run across the dirt covered ground straight towards the tree, the monster on her right was turning towards her, yet she was unfazed. The girls' display of courage was inspiring, and yet Anzu herself was still unable to get up and fight, she could feel the crossbow in her hands, it felt so heavy and unwieldy, the fear had her mind in a panic, she had no idea what to do with it, or how to help the girl before her.

The girl drew closer to the tree, not pausing or turning to look behind her, where the second of the monsters was now moving towards her, moving side to side with snakelike movements as it approached behind her, with incredible ease, she pulled the deeply embedded shield out of the tree, Anzu's held her breath as the monster approached, she was completely unable to act, unable to do anything but watch the events unfold before her. The monster had closed the gap and was almost on top of the girl when she finally turned around, suddenly startled she took a step back in fear. To Anzu, the entire event happened in slow motion, she watched as the girl stamped her other foot into the dirt, her face contorting with effort as she heaved the shield in a sharp towards angle, it cut straight through the lower jaw of the creature, It faded into a myriad of coloured particles which drifted into the sky.

Anzu looked with shocked silence at the display she had just witnessed, the girl had made it look so easy, her fearlessness as she had thrown the shield at the monsters, her ironclad resolve, everything she'd done in the face of the enemy was just like the actions of a true hero. Even now she looked unfazed, walking across the bare dirt ground to the shield, half dug into the ground. Of the creatures she'd killed there were no signs, the only indicator of a fight was a harsh graze on her arm.

Once she'd picked up the shield, she started walking towards Anzu, who was still stood cowering behind the shrine, Anzu braced herself for any blame, any beratement which might come for her cowardly actions in the face of the enemy.

There was none forecoming.

"Hey! My name's Tama! What's yours?" she asked cheerfully, curiosity written on her face.

Anzu froze, she didn't know quite what to say in the face of this unexpected question, she was not expecting her to simply ignore Anzu's cowardice by the shrine, how should she reply?

"You're injured!" were the first words she blurted out, she was fixated on the graze on the arm of the other girl.

"Oh, this? Don't worry about it, I tripped over coming here." she awkwardly put her hand on the back of her head and laughed dismissively.

"We've got to do something about it!" Anzu continued, frantically thinking about how she could treat it with the limited supplies on hand.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Tama said

"See?" she asked, holding her arm up

The atmosphere was broken by the disorientated yells of someone coming from the surroundings of the shrine

"Where are you!?"

The third voice came from the mass of bushes around the clearing of the shrine, it was high pitched and irritable, Anzu cowered when she heard it, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of the voice, and merely hearing the voice intimidated her.

"Over here!" the girl called Tama shouted back, Anzu winced at the volume, anxiously scanning the skies in case the noise brought anymore of the terrifying creatures down upon them.

Emerging from the bushes came another girl, her brown hair was streaked with leaves and the debris of foliage, which likewise permeated her clothes. She stood up from her crouching pose to her full height, looking at them, it felt she was looking straight through Anzu and straight at Tama. Anzu could see above her freckled face that her eyes were set in annoyance as she stared at Tama with a burning expression.

"I can't believe I had to go crawling through bushes!" she exploded "Wait until my parents find out about this!"

Anzu stepped back, the noise made her recoil and look at the sky again nervously.

"Come on, the outdoors is fun." Tama replied mischievously, unfazed by the girl's outburst. She turned to Anzu, smiling.

"Hey, this is Masuzu."

"She can be even louder than Tama!" Tama folded her arms and laughed to herself.

Anzu was unsure how to respond, though she gave a small smile which she hoped Tama would appreciate.

When she stopped laughing, she cocked her head

"Oh right, you never told us your name."

"A-Anzu." Anzu replied, tripping over the word.

"Anzu huh…"

"Nice to meet ya, Anzu."

Anzu nodded awkwardly, how was she supposed to talk to this girl who was so straight forward? So easy going?

"I-is she your friend?" she asked, speaking the first topic that came to mind

"We've only just met, but yeah, I guess so."

"I'm not sure how much she wants to get on with me though." Tama added thoughtfully, adopting an exaggerated thinking pose

"But we're here to save you!"

"Save me?" Anzu asked

Tama dodged the question, instead holding her shield up with pride

"Yep! You have a weapon like this, too right?"

"Masuzu says they're special, that we can fight these monsters with them!"

Anzu could only nod numbly, she'd seen the effect of Tama's weapon on the monsters first hand, and yet she couldn't forget that it hadn't been too long since she had been cowering behind the shrine, shaking from her own weakness as the monsters had borne down upon her, even with her life on the line she'd been unable to bring the weapon to bear against the monsters, she

"How do you know that?" she dared to ask the girl, Masuzu.

"I can just tell, alright?" she mumbled, sulking "I don't know why you've got these stupid things."

Anzu's heart fell, she didn't like this girl, she was rude, nasty to a point. She liked Tama however, she'd been nothing but kind to her, and the way she had come to save Anzu just like a prince from a fairy tale inspired her. Though they hadn't known each other for long, she felt a longing to talk to her, to get to know her better. But right now, there was no time for this, what was most pressing right now was finding her parents, she couldn't afford to stand here, talking to these girls. She opened her mouth to speak, to explain the situation, but a painful lump of emotions had formed in her chest, here was the friend that Anzu had waited for so long, someone who wanted to talk to Anzu, and she was trying to walk away from it all. Her emotions were in turmoil, she couldn't form any words to express how she felt, the pain of having to leave them. She was still struggling to think of the words to say when Tama broke the silence.

"Masuzu says she keeps feeling things that tell her what to do, spooky huh?" Tama asked, grinning.

Anzu nodded numbly, she was still trying to sort the words inside her head.

"Do you think it's ghosts?" Tama asked, grinning

"No, not ghosts." Masuzu replied, annoyed

"It's the same as fighting the monsters, I just know." She scowled and clenched her fists.

"I don't want it! I want to go home!" She raised her voice.

Anzu was taken aback by Masuzu's fresh wave of irritation, feeling herself cringe a little as she yelled.

She turned to stomp off down into the town.

Tama caught Masuzu as she made her way toward the entrance of the shrine

"Masuzu, we need to stick together here" Her tone was level.

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter how many of those monsters show up, Tama will protect you."

"And you too, Anzu." She added, determined.

She continued to hold Masuzu as they stared at each other, Masuzu was on the verge of the tears, Tama gently smiling at each other. They held this position for a few short moments before Masuzu composed herself slightly.

"Fine, what should we do?" She asked

"How should we do this?" Masuzu asked in a small voice, completely lost.

Anzu looked on, powerless to intervene, seeing Masuzu suffering like this hurt her, although she seemed unpleasant, she was just as scared as Anzu, though

She took a step forward into the dirt. She might be able to do something to help the here.

"Hey…" She started, her voice came out quieter than she had hoped.

Both Tama and Masuzu heard her small voice and turned to look at her.

They were both stood, waiting for her to continue, neither of them had had a plan, and why should they? None of them had any expectation that they would end up in this situation. The two girls now turned to her with hopes that she might have an idea to help them. Anzu was glad to have Tama's promise to rely on, it calmed her a little, helped still her turmoil of thoughts. Her head felt a little clearer, they had some options after all, with Tama's promise to help them maybe it would turn out okay, they could all go far away and live together somewhere safe.

"We should…" her words died in her throat, she couldn't presume to order these girls around.

"Watchya thinking?" Tama asked, smiling at her. Anzu was unable to resist the honest smile.

"Let's go to the shelter first." she suggested.

"mhm, uhum" Tama nodded as she mumbled in agreement "Everyone was heading there so we should find them no problem!"

"Good thinking, Anzu!"

Anzu shed a small smile, Tama's unbound confidence was spreading to her. But something was bothering her at the back of her mind. Something about Tama's positivity,

"Tama-san, aren't you worried?"

"Hm?"

"About your… about your parents" Anzu asked, her anxiety rising, what if something had happened to them before they'd met? What if she was just going to cause distress for Tama?

There was a small pause before Tama replied

"Tama-mama is very tough! She'll be just fine!"

"Tama-mama…" Anzu whispered to herself, she raised her hand to her mouth and gave a quiet laugh, she was unable to resist laughing briefly at the pun.

They agreed that the best course of action would be to seek the shelter and try to find any other human life. They'd made it to the top of the stairs leading downwards from the shrine when Tama stopped abruptly.

"Tama-san?" Anzu asked, worried

"I forgot about my camping gear!" Tama cried

That could certainly be useful, though was it something which they could really afford to take the time out to go chasing after?

"How far away is it?" she asked

Tama thought about it for a second, then pointed in the direction away from the town, towards the mountains, closer towards the shelter than they were currently, but It would no doubt be easier, if not more dangerous, to follow the roads, rather than risk trailing through the undergrowth around the shrines, blindly searching for a path towards Tama's gear.

Camping, not something which sounded appealing to Anzu, in fact, it couldn't possibly be further from what she enjoyed, sitting in a cold and wet tent as the wind howled outside and all manner of bugs crawled around and shared the tent. It all sounded thoroughly unpleasant to her. Her heart fell a little at the realisation, what would she talk to Tama about now? How could she hope to become friends like this?

"Let's follow the roads first." she said

"Got it!" Tama replied, making her way to the top of the stairs that would lead them back down to the streets.

"Are you sure that's the best thing to do?" Masuzu asked sharply "What if they see us?"

Anzu had no answer, if they were seen by the monsters, then Tama wouldn't be able to fight them all, not in the numbers that she had seen earlier.

"Uhm… well… we should… be okay." She stuttered several times throughout the sentence, it was still difficult to talk to Masuzu, especially when she was fixing her with such a piercing stare. She eventually followed Tama to the top of the stairs, clearly dissatisfied with Anzu's suggestion, and yet unable to come up with anything herself.

They stood at the top of the stairs, the three of them not quite ready to journey down below, ever since Tama had killed the three monsters earlier, they had enjoyed a moment of peace in the clearing together. The coverage of trees lining the stairs provided them with little chance to view the state of the town below. It must have been several hours since Anzu had been woken and the early hours of the morning by now, the tint of the streetlamps below was all that filtered from down below, adding to the glow of the lamps lining the stairs.

Steeling their resolve, they set off down the stairs, at the bottom, they could see the town below, there were no signs of life, just the massive coverage of lights from hastily abandoned cars and vacated houses. They turned their heads to the sky, where the numbers Anzu had witnessed earlier now seemed so insignificant, the monsters now must have numbered in the thousands, slowly drifting in lazy columns in the skies above the town, they watched as single units or groups would detach from the slow floating columns to dive to the town below, blindingly smashing into buildings or cars below to search for prey.

Anzu gasped, the sheer volume of the monsters was staggering. Beside her, Tama's face also fell as she laid eyes on the sheer mass of the creatures above.

"Can they see us?" Masuzu whispered, afraid that they might hear them even from this distance.

Anzu didn't know, yet what scared her more than the possibility that they might be seen was the fear of something more primal, what if the creatures above could hear or smell them, track them no matter where they went.

"Let's go inside." She whispered, the first thing that came to her head, if the creatures were out of sight it might help to calm the thoughts in her head.

"One of these houses then?" Tama suggested, she pointed to one of the lonely houses sitting alongside the road.

The house was eerily quiet, The lights had been left turned on, those who had lived here leaving in a hurry, their possessions were arrayed around the room naturally, dishes in the sink, homework left on the table, the effect it had on the three of them was sobering, everything seemed so normal in this room, even with the absence of its occupants. They had been peering through the windows of the patio, hesitating before she stepped into the house through the patio door, it felt wrong trespassing like this, no matter the circumstances.

Stepping through the door, the three of them instantly decided to make their way further into the house, the trepidation of first entering had been replaced by the fear of staying inside the glass room, where they might be easily seen by the monsters above, further into the house they could keep the creatures out of sight and out of mind, yet even now, surrounded by solid walls and a roof they were nervous, whispering to each other in case the creatures could still hear them. Masuzu had been quiet this entire time, and she now sat on the very edge of one of the sofas, she was still clearly displeased with the current plan.

Anzu looked at her, worried, they couldn't afford to not get on with each other. But what could she do to get Masuzu to open up? As she pondered over how to do this, a sudden change came over Masuzu, she gripped the sides if the sofa hard as the room illuminated, Anzu took a step back and Tama looked on, shocked as Masuzu was completely enveloped in light, which wrapped around her and beamed up into the roof.

She was in this state for what felt like an eternity, staring dead ahead as the light continued to emanate outwards from her.

When she came to her senses, she looked at the two of them, wide eyed. Anzu was speechless.

"Woah what was that!" Tama asked excitedly

"Masuzu, you've got super powers!"

Masuzu looked at them with a stunned silence.

"D-did you see that?" she asked uncertainly

The two of them nodded. Masuzu looked at them, clearly shaken.

"I know where we need to go." She said to them.

"Somewhere we can go to be safe." she said with conviction.

Anzu was shocked, she had no idea what she had just witnessed, yet there was nothing she could think of to explain it as anything more than supernatural, just like the weapons they'd obtained.

"Where?" she asked quietly, she'd only thought ahead to hopefully finding their parents at the shelter, let alone any ideas of safety, she was hoping something might have appeared, some safe haven in all this as they moved forward.

"You have to trust me on this, okay?" Masuzu asked succinctly

Anzu gave a small nod, Tama had said Masuzu had been the one who'd sent her to Anzu, so whatever these spiritual powers were, they didn't seem malicious.

All this thinking about location, coupled with the quieter atmosphere of the house, reminded Anzu that they had a powerful tool at their disposal. In the chaos of their situation she'd forgotten about something. She'd dropped her coat in the stampede of the crowd, but she was hoping that one of the others had one with them.

"Do either of you have your phones?" She asked, hoping.

"Right here." Tama replied

She pulled it out of her pocket, it was archaic in design, solid and blocky, hopefully it would have what she was looking for.

"Whatcha thinking, Anzu?" Tama asked,

Masuzu laughed, Anzu hadn't heard her laugh before, she'd seemed sullen this entire time, but the phone had set something off inside her

"Hey, don't laugh! This is indestructible!" Tama protested

Anzu restrained from laughing at Tama, it would be rude to do so, yet Masuzu's laughter raised her spirits nonetheless.

"We can find our way to the shelter by getting a map off your phone" she explained, hopefully everything was still working.

She typed in their destination into the phone, hoping Tama's phone would be able to connect.

It eventually did, a tiny map appearing on the incredibly small screen.

"There we go." she nodded, satisfied, their destination was now set, Tama's phone would guide them to the shelter.

"We should probably prepare ourselves before we head to the shelter, right?" Tama asked

Anzu looked at her, she agreed, but she certainly didn't want them to be stealing from anyone.

"I don't really know if we-"

"-should be stealing from them?" asked Tama.

"mhm."

"Don't worry, I've got some money here."

She reached into her shorts pocket to pull out a crinkled note and a handful of 50-yen coins.

Putting the value of the pittance aside, Anzu didn't imagine money would be what people would need, but it helped put her mind a little more at ease.

"Tama knows all about preparing for long journeys, just leave it ta me."

She disappeared into the kitchen, the noise of coins falling onto the floor coming shortly afterwards.

Anzu looked at the kitchen with bewilderment, had she misheard or had Tama just made a pun?

When she reappeared at the door, she was holding a hastily filled plastic bag.

"This is the only thing I can find" she said apologetically

"Masuzu, you are now our plastic bag carrier." she placed the bag before Masuzu with great reverence

"really?" Masuzu replied flatly

"By the way? What are we preparing for?" Tama asked quizzically "The shelter isn't that far away, right?"

"But after the shrine we'll need to go somewhere." Anzu explained "And we need to prepare for that journey."

"Do you know where, Masuzu-san?"

"yeah, Marugame, Kagawa"

"Kagawa?" she asked, it was so far away from them, especially on foot.

"Hey, we're lucky it's not America or something." Tama added.

True, at least it was still in Japan, she didn't even want to try and imagine the logistics of getting a boat functional.

"So, all we've got to do is go to the shelter, grab all the people there, and head to Marugame!"

Tama certainly had a gift for making things seem simple.

"That's right." she replied, agreeing, this would be the easiest part, the three of them sneaking their way towards the shelter under the watchful presence of the monstrous flotillas in the sky.

"hmm, what about Tama's camping gear? When do we get that?"

Ah, the camping gear, of course, it was still by the shrine, it seemed a waste of time to go back when the shelter should have the majority of the provisions.

She wasn't sure how to explain this to Tama, she didn't want to hurt her feelings either.

"we'll get them after we've got our parents." she assured her

They left through the door they'd entered, the patio around the back of the house, their time in the house had been brief, and when they left it was once again into darkness. Masuzu was shaking like a leaf, both from the night chill, and from the fear of the creatures above, Anzu was no different, she sorely missed the coat she'd lost earlier in the crowd. They made their way up the road, guided by the map on Tama's phone towards the shelter, still none of them dared speak a word to each other, no one wanted to risk disturbing the monsters behind them, to bring the great mass of gnashing teeth and huge bodies down on them. Their looks were likewise subdued, Anzu clutched her crossbow closer to her, yet she had no doubt that if she had to fight, she would be unable to.

The shelter was in the mountains, safer from the effects of tsunamis on the higher ground, Anzu didn't want to admit it to the others, lest she create panic among the others, but with each step towards the shelter, her heart felt heavier, she'd seen the destruction the monsters had wrought upon the town below, destroying everything with brute force. She hoped that they were mindless, that they'd have left the shelter due to its remoteness, certainly she could see none of them floating around in the skies before them, lazily drifting in great numbers. Despite her desire to not worry either of the other girls, she still found herself letting out a sigh from her pent-up worry.

"What's wrong?" Tama asked concerned.

"Ah, nothing." Anzu replied, she wouldn't tell Tama what was on her mind. She was grateful that Tama chose not to press her about it.

Masuzu had been walking along side Anzu's side the entire time, and their walk up into the mountains had drained her, as they came to a stop, she paused to catch her breath, wildly panting, she looked at the others with complete surprise, and Anzu realized that she hadn't been exhausted once, she hadn't even felt short of breath once, the revelation was shocking, she'd been unable to run for several minutes before, and yet here she was climbing the steep increment of the path towards the shelter without trouble. She was the picture of health, was this part of the crossbow she'd picked up?

"Not too long to go now." Tama said, lightening the mood, she showed the phone screen to them, Tama had confidently taken charge of the map reading, even if all they had to do was follow the markings on the map that would lead them to their destination.

Anzu had no idea what the shelter looked like, merely that it was higher up into the mountains, though what came into sight shortly afterwards as they crested the hill made sense, it was a large, sturdily built building in the mountains, large enough to hold a great number of people for a short amount of time, the towns folk would have headed up towards the shelter. As they approached the shelter, they noticed the complete lack of light coming from the building, the entire structure seemed to stand empty, but as far as she could see there wasn't a single sign of damage to the building, nothing like the destruction that had been wrought on the town below when the creatures had torn houses apart in their heavy-handed hunt for their prey. Ahead of her she could see Tama holding her shield up, suddenly tense. She was aware of Masuzu moving behind her, and she held the crossbow she had been carrying up protectively, unsure of whether she would be able to use it or not should it come to it.

They drew closer, walking forward carefully, holding their breath and straining their hearing for anything that might have happened to the people there. Anzu's heart almost stopped when Tama was suddenly illuminated by the glow of multiple torches coming from the shelter, she stood deadly still, unsure what was happening. Tama was shielding her eyes from the glow. The previously still night was filled with the whispers of individuals up ahead, coming from the shelter, Anzu relaxed ever so slightly, these weren't monsters, they were people, there were still people alive!

She blinked several times as the torches were lowered away from their eyes towards the floor, from the faint glow she could see a large body of individuals ahead, peeking out from behind a ragtag barricade of furniture set up behind the shelter door. Several of the torches flicked off, dimming the entire area, and one of the individuals behind the barricade gestured for them to come forward towards the barricade.

They'd found human life, and Anzu felt a surge of hope that their parents would be there, that they could unite with each other again before setting off for the safety of Marugame.


End file.
